I've been getting better at high-altitude baking, and this is my best batch of scones yet! This are made with Chai Masala (Indian for "spiced tea") flavors. Debbie doesn't like cloves so I substituted allspice, which has a similar flavor. We usually don't glaze our scones, we prefer to eat them with butter.
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No, It's Not "Chai Tea"!
Let's get this straight. "Chai" is the Indian word for "tea". So if you says "chai tea" you're saying "tea tea". And that just sounds silly. But we Americans do silly things like that a lot. In Boulder, CO, there's a geographical feature called "Table Mesa". "Mesa" is the Spanish word for "table". So yep, its name is "table table". (This public service announcement has been brought to you by the Department for the Elimination of Redundancy Department.)
End of language lesson? Wait, not yet! I've always pronounced "scone" as "sc-OWN", which is another Americanism. In England and Australia it's pronounced "sc-ON". Now if you go to England and order scones, they'll know what you're talking about!
Ingredients You'll Need
- flour
- sugar
- salt
- baking powder
- ginger
- allspice
- cardamom
- cinnamon
- nutmeg
- white pepper
- black tea
- egg
- buttermilk
- butter
How to Make Chai Masala Scones
Here's the usual ingredients portrait: flour; grated butter; sugar, salt, and baking powder; spices (ginger, allspice, cardamom, cinnamon, nutmeg, and white pepper), black tea from a tea bag; an egg; and buttermilk.
Preheat the oven to 425°F.
Put the dry ingredients into a large bowl and mix to combine them. A whisk works well for this.
Beat the egg in a liquid cup measure.
Add buttermilk until you have 1 ¼ cups and whisk to combine.
Add the butter to the bowl and mix with a fork, a pastry cutter, or your fingers. You want the texture of a coarse meal, but small bits of butter are okay.
I froze the stick of butter and grated it with my box grater. I found it much easier to incorporate it into the flour with my pastry cutter.
Pour the buttermilk mixture into the bowl and fold it into the flour to make a batter. I use my favorite "spoonula"—a shallow spoon with a flat tip—for this.
Mix until the dough just comes together. You should have a somewhat wet and sticky dough.
Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and pat it into a 6" circle. If the dough is too sticky to work with, sprinkle a bit more flour over it.
Cut the dough into 6 or 8 sections. They didn't come out very even, but that's okay.
Put the scones on a baking sheet. I'm using a non-stick sheet. If you don't have one, line the sheet with parchment paper. I decided to cut that really big scone in half.
Bake for 20 minutes and check for doneness. The tops should be lightly browned, and a toothpick inserted into a scone should come out clean. You can also tap a scone with your finger. It shouldn't feel soft, and it should have a slight hollow sound.
If they aren't done, bake for an additional 5 minutes at a time until they're done.
Here they are out of the oven. Cool on a rack before serving.
These came out really well. I'm getting the hang of this high altitude baking thing!
We don't usually glaze our scones, it makes them overly sweet for us. We prefer them with butter or clotted cream. Which reminds me, I need to make some clotted cream!
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📖 Recipe Card
Chai Masala Spiced Scones - High-Altitude Recipe
Special Equipment Needed
- 1 Pastry cutter
- 1 Half-sheet (12x16) baking sheet
- 1 Baking rack for cooling the scones
Ingredients
- 2 ¾ cups flour +2 tablespoons
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon ginger
- ¼ teaspoon allspice
- ¼ teaspoon cardamom
- ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon white pepper
- 1 bag black tea removed from bag
- 1 egg
- Buttermilk to fill to 1 ¼ cup mixed with egg
- 8 tablespoons butter (1 stick) cut into cubes or grated
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425°F.
- Put the dry ingredients into a large bowl and mix to combine them.2 ¾ cups flour, 2 teaspoons sugar, ½ teaspoon salt, ½ teaspoon baking powder, ¼ teaspoon ginger, ¼ teaspoon allspice, ¼ teaspoon cardamom, ¼ teaspoon cinnamon, ¼ teaspoon nutmeg, ¼ teaspoon white pepper, 1 bag black tea
- Beat the egg in a liquid cup measure. Add buttermilk until you have 1 ¼ cups.1 egg, Buttermilk
- Add the butter to the bowl and mix with a fork, a pastry cutter, or your fingers. You want the texture of a coarse meal, but small bits of butter are okay.8 tablespoons butter
- Pour about half of the buttermilk mixture into the bowl and fold it into the flour to make a batter. Gradually add more until the dough just comes together. You may not need to use all the buttermilk. You should have a somewhat wet and sticky dough.
- Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and pat it into a 6" circle. If the dough is too stick to work with, add a bit more flour.
- Cut the dough into 6 or 8 sections and put them on a lined baking sheet.
- Bake for 20 minutes and check for doneness. The tops should be lightly browned, and a toothpick inserted into a scone should come out clean. You can also tap a scone with your finger. It shouldn't feel soft, and it should have a slight hollow sound.If they aren't done, bake for an additional 5 minutes at a time until they're done.
- Cool on a rack before serving.
Nutrition Estimate
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